Imogen Robertson: Circle of Shadows

Harriet had emerged from the house, and having cast her eye over the arrangements and decided not to intervene, joined the gentlemen. ‘Michaels has volunteered to be our guide, Crowther, and will not be persuaded to remain at home,’ she said. ‘He has the same distrust of the postillions and innkeepers of Germany as the butcher seems to have of the meat.’

‘He is fond of your sister,’ Graves said.

‘Yes, everyone is. Our bulging supplies are testament to that. Graves, my children will be with Verity at Thornleigh Hall before nightfall, all packed up and Anne’s nurse and Mr Quince with them.’

‘They are very welcome.’

Harriet’s voice became low. ‘Stephen is very angry with me. He feels he should be allowed to accompany us.’

‘I have spent half the night denying the appeals of Susan and Jonathan,’ Graves replied wearily. ‘They claim that as Clode once saved them, it is their right to come with us to save him. Little Eustache wishes to go because he fears being left behind. They are with Stephen in your old nursery now, talking bitterly of us and plotting to pursue us.’

‘If you will allow me, I shall have a word with the young people,’ Crowther said.

Graves and Harriet looked at him with a mixture of surprise and faint hope.

At the point the cavalcade was ready to make for the coast, the children presented themselves for their farewells. They were affectionate, and though distressed at the separation, they no longer seemed angry. Stephen only whispered to his mother that she must be very careful. He did so with the seriousness only a ten year old with large blue eyes can manage. She promised him she would, rather wonderingly. She watched from the carriage window until the house was out of sight, before wiping her eyes and asking, bewildered, ‘Crowther, what on earth did you say to them?’

He leaned back into his corner of the carriage. ‘I explained that before they could hope to be of any practical help to us on occasions such as these, they must learn to shoot a pistol accurately, improve their riding, their French and their geography. I also suggested wrestling. They aim to spend the time we are absent in continual practice.’

Graves made a slight choking sound, and Harriet shook her head. Crowther folded his long fingers over the top of his cane, and closed his eyes.

From The Gazetteer of Europe for the Informed Traveller , 1782

The Duchy of Maulberg

Situation: lying in the south west between Bavaria, Wirtemburg and Saxe

Ettlingham .

Extent: some 1,500 square miles, supporting some 100,000 souls .

Mostly forest and agricultural land .

Raised to Duchy 1495 .

Ruler: Ludwig Christoph II born 1745, succeeded to title 1756 .

Exports: wine, linen, paper .

Principal rivers: Neckar, Enz .

Principal cities: Ulrichsberg (capital) founded 1713 on building of Ducal

Palace; Leuchtenstadt, seat of University of Maulberg founded 1512 .

Some remarks:

Some commentators have said that if every county in England, and some of the larger parishes, had their own King, then we might learn to understand the situation that pertains in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. Maulberg is a fine example of this sort of government. The Duke is, to all intents and purposes, an absolute ruler in his territory, but his lands are punctured by other tiny sovereign states and he owes a polite allegiance to the Emperor. He has, however, his own troops, his own government and to an extent his own laws, and should always be treated with the deference due to a monarch .

Maulberg and its people suffered greatly during the Seven Years’ War as the armies of their great neighbours Austria and Prussia marched over their lands. However, we are glad to report that the situation seems to have improved of late. Much of the Duchy appears to be productively farmed once more and its population grows .

The Palace of Ulrichsberg deserves qualified admiration. It is modelled on Versailles, and certainly gives an impression of great splendour. The palace is also famous due to the quality of musicians and artists of all sorts the current ruler continually attracts to him. The other buildings in the city are also most elegant. An Englishman passing through this city must, however, ask himself how a state only a little larger than Wiltshire can afford a court so splendid .

As with all parts of Germany and Austria, we advise travellers to be very careful in matters of rank and recommend they seek guidance from their hosts in all questions of forms of address at all levels in society. French is generally used amongst people of quality, and almost exclusively in court except when dealing with servants. The peasants speak only their local version of the German tongue. Unsurprising then, that even these little states seem divided into classes of people staring at each other with a profound degree of mutual incomprehension .

2 May 1784, outskirts of Ulrichsberg, capital of Maulberg

Harriet felt the jolt of the carriage and the papers she was reading slid from her hand. She bit her lip to silence a curse and closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them again Crowther was holding the fallen sheets towards her. She took them with a nod, and both returned to their reading. She could hear Michaels on the roof of the carriage haranguing the driver. Graves was sitting opposite her, occasionally lifting his neck and making the vertebrae crack. She fought to focus her attention once more on the documents in her hand.

The journey had been a foul one. The sulphurous and heavy summer of 1783 had given way to a winter more severe than anyone living in England could remember. Now the ice cracked, and across Europe the rivers swelled and beat at their banks. The crossing of the Channel had left Crowther grey with fatigue and even Mrs Westerman took no pleasure in being at sea again. Then the roads that led them from the coast of Denmark, through Prussia, down towards the forests and hills of the south, were treaclish with mud and full of these sudden dips and lurches. Still, such was the determination with which they pressed forward, it had become clear the party would reach the Palace of Ulrichsberg only a little after Easter.

With the ringing of the bells for that festival, the weather began to improve. The rivers calmed themselves, retreated to their usual boundaries and looked innocent once more. The roads started to dry and the sun to show itself, and in showing itself revealed to the occupants of the carriage a world gradually greening with a late spring. The fresh leaves of the beech and ash fluttered open, the oak shook up its greenery and the verges were cheerful with wild flowers. Even the air smelled more hopeful. But the travelling chaise still carried winter in it. The faces of its occupants were drawn and weary, as if the sunlight could not reach them. There was some advantage in the rigours they faced, however, since these had left them too tired to be afraid of what awaited them in Maulberg.

They had crossed the border early in the morning of 2 May. Great packets of letters and documents, bundled and sealed, were handed to them and they were asked to retire to the parlour of the Customs House as their luggage was politely searched. Harriet tore at the strings while the gentlemen watched.

‘Clode is alive,’ she said at once. ‘The investigation into the death of Lady Martesen continues.’ She heard Graves exhale. The fear that Clode might have been condemned and executed before they had even crossed into Europe had been with her every hour since they left England, but she had never given it voice. Only on hearing the air escape from Graves’s lungs now did she realise that he had feared the same thing — that they had ridden so hard to collect a body and a widow. ‘He is being held at Castle Grenzhow.’